That wasn't the case this year – with a recent week of weather in the 20s and lower, as well as a surprising amount of natural snowfall.

“To be skiing in October is just amazing,” he says.

This weekend, he says Wildcat will have the most vertical feet available for skiing east of Colorado.

Promotions for opening day even broke some in-house records for likes and comments on social media.

But it’s an outlier – what UNH snow scientist Elizabeth Burakowski calls an example of weather, not climate.

“This is remarkable – it’s great having this much snow this early in the season,” she says. “However, long-term climate trends don’t point toward having more snow in October. In fact, it shows quite the opposite.”

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